A New Teacher
by Elphaba Lynn Daae
Summary: Yay! Second story! Woop! Again, please review and provide suggestions. New chapters coming soon! Disclaimer: Dear Universal, I do not own The Phantom of the Opera. You do. *bows down in respect* Dear JK Rowling and Scholastic: I don't own harry Potter. If I did, then one of my friends would be killing me out of excitement.
1. Chapter 1

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were ecstatic as they leaped off the Hogwarts Express.

"Can't wait for the new school year to start!" Harry said, glad to be away from his horrible family.

"Hey! I hear we have to take Music this year...I wonder what that will be like!" Hermione explained as she skipped along, "I hope we have a good teacher!"

Later, at the welcoming banquet, the trio saw a new teacher sitting with the familiar ones.

"That must be our music teacher!" Ron said to his friends. The man had on a white mask that covered the right side of his face. His hair was shiny with hair gel and he had a look of rebellion on his face.

"I wonder why he has to wear that mask," Hermione murmured.

"Eh, probably just a fashion trend from wherever he's from I guess..." Harry muttered, uninterested in why the teacher had on a mask.

"Well as long as You-Know-Who's not hiding under there, then I'm good." the three shuddered at the thought of Professor Quirrel, who wore a turban that turned out to be hiding their worst enemy.

The next day, they met their professor for the first time.

"I am Professor Erik!" he announced. His voice was full of authority. It was very loud and booming, as if he had been a singer before teaching at Hogwarts. "I will be teaching you all about music." Harry thought he heard him mutter "The music of the might" under his breath, but he wasn't too sure so he didn't say anything.

The class was uneventful, they learned how to read basic music and sang some songs, nothing special. Erik turned out to be a great teacher. Though he had seemed tough at first, he was very gentle and kind toward everyone as long as they didn't break any rules.

That night, when they walked by his classroom, they heard an organ playing dramatic music while Erik sang. He had a beautiful voice and Harry, Ron, and Hermione couldn't help but press their ears to the door and listen to Erik's song. As he sang, his voice was full of sadness, regret and loneliness.

"In sleep I sang to you, in dreams, I came, my voice had called to you, it spoke your name, and though you turn from me, to glance behind, the phantom of the oepra was there, inside your mind..." On the last note his voice cracked and the three friends heard tears as he went on to a different song.

"Say you'll share with me, one love, one lifetime..." he barely started this song before he burst out into tears once again. "Christine, my Christine," he sobbed, "I loved you and look what you've done to me!"

Harry couldn't bear to hear anymore, so he led his friends away from the classroom.

"Who's Christine?" Hermione wondered out loud.

"I guess we'll have to find out!" Harry declared.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, Ron, Harry, and Hermione entered Erik's classroom slightly scared. But the professor acted as if nothing had happened, although he did have a sort of longing look in his eyes. Today, the lesson was about emotions in music. Understandable. After class, Hermione walked up to the professor's desk along with her two friends.

"Professor?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes?" came the answer.

"I, we, couldn't help hearing your beautiful song last night and-

"You WHAT?"

"We, we just..."

"You were eavesdropping?"

"We're SORRY!"

"Okay. I might as well get this over with." Professor Erik then quickly turned away from them and pulled off his mask. When he turned around again, the trio saw the most horrifying face they had ever seen in their life. The left side of Erik's face was so deformed, it gave Voldemort some competition. The mask was quickly put back on.

"It's been like this since I was born. No one knows how or why. I was abandoned as a child and sold to the gypsies. They called me the devil's child and put me on display for money. Then, finally, a young ballet student from the Opera Populaire helped me escape and hid me in the gutters of the opera house. I've lived there ever since. With my music...my music..."

"I don't mean to be intruding into your personal life, but who's Christine?" Ron asked nervously.

"That, my child, is a different story that I'd rather not tell you! Now GO! Or you'll be late for McGonagall. You know how strict she is about arriving on time!" And with that said, the three friends turned away and headed for Professor McGonagall's classroom.

Later that day, Harry and Ron got permission from Professor Dumbledore to go into the restricted area of the library to look for a book on the dark arts. Well the book they were looking for was nowhere to be found. So they took a little break and decided to continue searching in a few minutes.

"Ugh. Stupid book. Where can it be? Its not like the restricted section is all that large!" Harry moaned.

"Oh Harry don't give up so fast! That Christine girl is really starting to bother me! She is so mysterious."

"Oh Ron, you haven't even met her!"

"Alright, fine then, Erik is being mysterious about Christine."

"He is!"

"Exactly my point!"

"Hey did he ever mention Christine's last name"

"No, why?"  
"Because, he mentioned the Opera Populaire. Remember in Muggle Studies they mentioned a singer named Christine Daae who first became famous from replacing that idiot Carlotta when the Opera Populaire was doing Hannibal?"

"Yeah, but if _that_ Christine is _our_ Christine, that would make Erik a Muggle! Muggles can't teach at Hogwarts!"

"Well apparently this one is!"

"Harry, slow down! We don't know anything yet! Let's just forget Christine and Erik now and go to Dumbledore's office and tell him that we can't find the book."

They walked toward the giant circular staircase guarded by a gargoyle, to whom they gave the password (Pop Rocks, a new Muggle candy that Dumbledore had grown quite fond of), and headed up to the headmaster's office.

Dumbledore appeared to be gone. On his desk was a note that stated "Gone to empty my bladder." Harry and Ron decided to wait until he returned and boredom finally pushed them to explore. Suddenly, the cover of a book caught his eye.

"Hey Ron! Come look at this!" he cried to his friend.

The worn cover revealed the title of the book "The Phantom of the Opera". The dusty cover also showed the picture of a beautiful young woman. Next to her was a man with a white mask.


End file.
